FORMER IRON MAIDEN SINGER PAUL DI’ANNO DISCUSSES WRITING SONGS WITH THE BAND AND STATED, “[IT’S] STEVE’S BAND..AND IF YOU’RE LUCKY, YOU GET TO WRITE THE ODD SONG”
Greg Prato of Songfacts spoke with former Iron Maiden singer Paul Di’Anno. Excerpts from interview appear below.
Songfacts: Do you still enjoy singing the Maiden classics?
Paul Di’Anno: Yeah, I do. There are days where you don’t really want to do it. You feel like, “Oh God, what am I doing?” You know, we’ve done it for so long on and off and I’ve been lazy – I don’t make records, which I should do! I just think, Oh God, I’m going to be stuck doing this for the rest of my life. There are days when I say, “I don’t want to do this,” but as soon as I get on the stage, everything’s fine. We play a lot heavier, as well.
Songfacts: As far as songwriting, how would you say that you write your best songs?
Paul Di’Anno: In jail. [Laughing] No, me and Joey – my guitar player from Architects – we seem to have hit it off really well. Joey’s the newest member with us – he’s only been with us a couple of years when the rest of the guys have played with me for about six, seven years. He’s absolutely phenomenal. We couldn’t believe it. We knew he was good, but we didn’t realize just how great a guitar player he is. Both my guitar players in the band are absolutely awesome. It’s really changed the whole feel of the band. And yeah, we’re coming up with some really good stuff at the moment, so we’re really happy.
Songfacts: How would you describe the songwriting in Iron Maiden?
Paul Di’Anno: Well, it’s Steve Harris, isn’t it? [Laughs] Steve’s band, Steve’s rules, Steve does what he wants, and if you’re lucky, you get to write the odd song.
Songfacts: But as far as the songs that you had a hand in writing, such as Remember Tomorrow and also Running Free, was it the lyrics that you contributed?
Paul Di’Anno: Yeah, I did some of that. Running Free is basically my song. I asked Steve to play this certain bass line, he did, and I actually ended up getting a songwriting credit – I thought, “Oh… great!” But Steve would have an idea and I would make up some lyrics on the spot, or make up some sort of melody line, and then we’d just carry on with it after.
Songfacts: As far as the song Running Free, did you pretty much write all the music, as well?
Paul Di’Anno: Yeah. I had the idea for it all. I stole the idea off of Gary Glitter, with a drumbeat and stuff like that. I wanted that kind of vibe and feel for it. It’s quite simple. I think it was Rock and Roll, Parts One and Two – it was the same drum beat, we just sped it up a little bit.
Songfacts And then the song Remember Tomorrow, if you want to talk a little bit about that.
Paul Di’Anno: That was about my grandfather. I lost him in 1980, when I was on tour. He was a diabetic. They cut off his toe and his heel, then he lost his leg from the knee down, and he just sort of gave up. But the lyrics don’t relate to it, to be honest with you – just the words “remember tomorrow.” Because that is what he always used to say – that was his little catch phrase. “You never know what is going to happen, remember tomorrow, it might be a better day.” So I just kept it in, and that was it.
Songfacts: Were the lyrics to Running Free based on any of your real-life experiences?
Paul Di’Anno: Yeah. [Laughing] I’ve always been a rebel. I don’t know why, I just don’t like conforming to the norm if I can help it. I don’t respect authority, which is a bit unfortunate, as it’s a bad thing for me sometimes!
Songfacts: What about the song Killers, that you also co wrote?
Paul: Steve had the song and I had the idea for the lyrics. But Steve wanted to play it live at the Rainbow when we’d done that DVD, and I thought, Oh crap. I had a rough idea, but I made up the words as we went along – live on stage, in front of all those bloody people. And they’re different to how they are on the album, as well. It was about a psychotic killer, what he’s thinking about while he’s doing it.
Songfacts: Looking back at those two Iron Maiden albums, what song is your favorite and why?
Paul Di’Anno: I don’t know really – they’re all bloody good. It’s just the production is really bad on the first album. I prefer all the songs on the first album.
Songfacts: What was the hardest or most challenging Maiden song to sing?
Paul Di’Anno: The one we don’t do anymore – Women in Uniform. [Laughs] We played it a couple of times with Iron Maiden, and I played it a couple of times recently over the years – it’s such a bloody pain in the ass, it really is. And it’s not even one of our songs – it’s Skyhooks, the Australian band. I just didn’t get on with it. I don’t get on with that song at all.
Songfacts: One of my favorite Maiden songs has always been Murders in the Rue Morgue.
Paul Di’Anno: Steve came up with that – it’s from the book, The Murders in the Rue Morgue [a short story by Edgar Allan Poe]. Steve is into all that stuff – the historical stuff – and it came out really good. I still love playing that song live, and I’ll be doing it tonight again.
Songfacts” What about the song Wrathchild?
Paul Di’Anno: That’s one of Steve’s inventions. I don’t really know what it’s all about, to be quite honest with you.
Songfacts: Was there ever a lyric that Steve presented that you didn’t really care for?
Paul Di’Anno: Yeah, there’s a couple. Invasion was one of them – one of the very first tracks we ever did. The hook line: “The Vikings are coming, the Vikings are coming.” Oh blimey, that sounded really rubbish. But it still went down great live, so I can’t complain – what do I know?
Songfacts: Let’s talk about your new project, Architects of Chaoz.
Paul Di’Anno: This is my German touring band. We’ve been friends for so many years and we just decided that we’ve had enough of this, let’s become a band. We still play some of the Maiden songs, but we started writing and it’s all going very, very well. We had an EP we put out to try and get a record deal, and somehow, Metal Hammer got a hold of it and Rock Hard Magazine have both made us the EP of the month in August. And the vibe on us is going absolutely crazy, so we’re loving it. We go into the studio in February to start recording the full album. Still got a couple of songs to finish off the album when I get off tour. And then it’s a May release. We’ve already got the title, it’s Architects of Chaoz, A League of Shadows. So we’re just going to see what happens with this now.
Read more at Songfacts.
In addition to his new band, Di’Anno also released a DVD called The Beast Arises and a book called The Beast.
I love the first two Iron Maiden albums but this guy screwed up and got booted out when things were really taking off. Bruce Dickinson is a better singer, frontman, and all around personality anyway. The way I look at it, Iron Maiden got a better singer and Bruce got a better band. They wouldn’t have made it as big with Paul Di’Anno.
And yeah, it’s Steve’s band. All the great bands have had one or two people at the helm.
the only other person I could think of singing for Iron Maiden, in lieu of Bruce, would be Rob Halford.
Interesting comment Patrick. There are moments on the latest Priest album that I think sound a bit like Iron Maiden musically, perhaps a bit like their more recent material. And didn’t Ritchie Faulkner play with Lauren Harris, Steve Harris’s daughter? It’ll never happen of course, but that could be a fun little experiment, hearing Halford sing “Aces High”.
Killers, best Maiden record. Nothing compares. I love Bruce, but the ferocity on Killers is unmatched. You can also hear how heavily influenced they were by early Queen on that record, the guitar ideas, etc. I always come back to Killers!
Sorry, Number of the Beast is much better.
There is nothing anybody can do to this guy worse than what he’s done to himself. He was a great singer and songwriter for arguably the best band ever and he split with them for 1/3 of a century of obscurity and counting. Some of his work outside of MAIDEN has merit and his book is very interesting but ultimately all he’ll ever be is EX-IRON MAIDEN singer PAUL DI’ANNO. In my opinion he had the voice and charisma to be his generations IAN GILLAN. I’ve always thought his voice would have been great in VELVET REVOLVER. He had great range as a vocalist and I believe commercial appeal but that won’t happen. STRANGE WORLD from IRON MAIDEN is incredible and Di’Anno is at his best on that one. Wherever you are Paul, God be with you and I hope MAIDEN JAPAN gets a re-release someday. It shows what a great frontman he was at such a young age.
Maiden Japan is a lost classic. It definitely deserves respect. Paul’s vocals on that are scary great. His screams are gritter and more violent sounding than on the studio albums. And the slow, bluesy guitar solo Dave lets loose with on “Remember Tomorrow” is eerie and brilliant at the same time.
James K: Hell yes! A buddy of mine is going to Tokyo next year and I asked him to look for it on cd…Murray’s solo on “Killers” on that EP is probably the most perfect solo on any live metal record. Gives me chills every time. I don’t understand why it isn’t remastered and put out.
Joe, you’re so right about Dave’s “Killers” solo. The entire band sounds vicious on that ep.
PD is a great singer. So is BD. Iron maiden would have been massive regardless. I personally love the first 2 records the most. But there are some cracking albums after PD left too. I say it’s a win win.
Cracking albums? The 1980s belonged to IRON MAIDEN. They are the standard bearers of heavy metal.
Killers is one of my top five albums of all time and has been since I bought it in 1981. The first Iron Maiden album is great to but they went to a higher level with Killers. The songs are incredible, the production was awesome and the band just sounded better once Adrian Smith took over on guitar from Dennis Stratton. Adrian and Dave just locked in and became the best heavy metal twin guitar team since Glenn Tipton and KK Downing. Paul was great but Steve Harris was definitely the leader and Paul was kind of a loose cannon and I’m sure Steve didn’t want to deal with that. It was sad because I was and still am a fan of Paul’s vocals with Maiden. He had a guttural growl and a grit to his voice Bruce doesn’t and his screams were better and vicious sounding.